NPA to consider options on Jiba, Mrwebi ruling

Struck off roll … Nomgcobo Jiba and her colleague Lawrence Mrwebi ordered removed from roll of advocates

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Thursday said it will consider its options after two senior prosecutions officials, Nomgcobo Jiba and her colleague Lawrence Mrwebi, were struck off the roll of advocates of the General Council of the Bar of SA.

The duo were struck of the roll over their handling of the Richard Mdluli matter as ordered by Judge Frans Legodi with Judge W Hughes in agreement in the High Court in Pretoria.

“We will reflect on issues raised in the judgment with a view to determining legal avenues to explore,” NPA spokesperson Luvuyo Mfaku said in a statement.

Earlier News24 reported that Legodi wrote a scathing 109-page judgment stating his disappointment with the two.

“I cannot believe that two officers of the court [advocates] who hold such high positions in the prosecuting authority will stoop so low for the protection and defence of one individual who had been implicated in serious offences,” Legodi wrote. – News24

Meanwhile A woman died on Thursday evening after being stabbed several times at her home in Mashishing (Lydenburg), Mpumalanga.

ER24 spokesperson Russel Meiring said the woman was found in one of the rooms of her house with multiple fatal stab wounds to her neck.

“Unfortunately, nothing could be done for the patient and she was declared dead on scene,” Meiring said.

Details surrounding the incident are unknown at this time. Police are investigating.

And in another matter  a man who was caught with abalone worth R300 000 following a police chase will appear in the Strand Magistrate’s Court today on charges of illegal possession and transporting of abalone, Western Cape police confirmed.

The 27-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday night by the members of SAPS K9 unit after they spotted a driver speaking on his cellphone while driving down Sir Lowry’s Pass toward Somerset West, said spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk.

When the vehicle stopped in the middle of the road near an intersection, the officers approached and the bakkie sped off, followed by a second bakkie.

While the first bakkie managed to evade police, the officers pulled the second vehicle over on the N2 near Lwandle.

“Upon approaching the [vehicle], the members noticed various plastic bags through an open canopy window. These bags all contained abalone,” Van Wyk said.
The man was arrested and the contraband was seized.

“Officials from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries were summoned to Lwandle police station where the abalone was counted. It amounted to 2 447 units of shucked abalone. I
“t must still be weighed to determine the exact value, but was estimated at approximately R300 000.”